Tips For Safe Social Networking | Scion Ideas

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Ning, Digg, MeetUp, blogs, etc.,? ? the number of social networking sites and tools is exploding. Social networking is the?killer app?of the Internet for everyone ? not?just the texting teenybopper crowd. Such?sites have breached the walls of the corporate firewall, are a part of our most important smartphone apps, are a vital tool for any serious job search, and are the new way to connect with current and new friends. Social networking is about?self forming groups, a dynamic author Clay Shirky examines in his book?Here Comes Everybody: The Power Of Organizing With Organizations.? But? using social networking tools and sites seems to be in direct conflict with another important principle of using the Internet ? protect your identity from identity theft.?? Participating? in online social networking sites? leaves a trail of personal information that can make stealing your identity a whole lot easier.? What?s a current-day Internet user to do? Should we go blithely along like a fish protected in a larger school of potential identity theft victims, or maybe we should forego social networking altogether? No and no. Instead each of us should take responsibility for protecting ourselves. Here are some points by wphacks.

Publicity of Personal Information

When you sign up on a social networking site, make sure you don?t input your full name, just set a name that can be recognized by your true friends. Never input important information such as date of birth, year graduated, university where you graduated, where you?re residing, your contact #, where you are working, and personal questions for retrieving accounts, as it may come back to harm you. I?m not saying that all this information should be a false, you should just leave these fields blank. This information can be used against you by identity thieves and/or be used for scamming purposes.

Assume Everything is Public

In every thing you do on social networking sites, assume at some point it will become public. Never post anything online that can harm your business or company as it can use against you, including chats and conversations which have the potential to be saved and posted to the public.

Images on the internet are permanent

We all know that the internet can duplicate any content or image in the blink of an eye. It can spread a thousand times faster than bacteria. And, even when you delete these images, there is still a chance that your photos/images have been duplicated, copied, or cached by another internet service. This is an important point/detail that companies should keep in mind. Businesses should be careful about what they put in SNS profiles. Everything should be about brand building and reputation management, or else it has the potential to ruin your company?s reputation.

Side step location based services

Never use the location status if you?re in Starbucks having a business meeting or appointment as it can give the people an access to where you are located.

Don?t post anything sensitive

I would like to emphasize the need to avoid posting anything that is potential for any sensitive business which can harm you and your business or company. This could be a leak point for your competitors to see where and who you are dealing with and provide your competitors with an edge.

Using social networking websites can give you many benefits, but keep in mind the potential danger. It is best to hire a social media agency to avoid risks and let them take care of the social media activities for you.

Blog source : wphack

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